Making your kids fans.

[Lemur1]

My daughter's nearly four and i took her to the Tigers vs. Manly game at Leichhardt last year for her first taste of rugby league. Not only did she don the Tigers jersey i received as a youngster for my 8th birthday, but she waved her new Tigers flag proudly at every opportunity, of which there were plenty as we came home strong and scored that incredible come-from-behind victory. Not a bad introduction!

She met Chris Lawrence (who was incredibly generous with his time and very engaging with her - that guy's star became even brighter that day in my eyes), had an ice cream, got her face painted as a Tiger (which she kept saying was a kitty), and lost her mind when she realised she could run lengths of the field after the game (which is an awesome initiative for the kids; would be great to see it become a regular part of game day at Leichhardt). It was difficult to remove her from the ground she was having such a great time!

Needless to say, all things Tigers to her are nothing but positive, and she's always in for a "Go Tigers" call and response.

That being said, she also thinks that every team playing sport on TV (whether it be union, soccer, AFL) are the Tigers, and that every ground shown is the one she ran across after the game last year… which is pretty cute :slight_smile:

 

[jirskyr]

No choice for my boy. He's 4th generation Tigers supporter!

We are the same. My family started following Balmain at the beginning of rugby league, being Lilyfield residents, and that conviction has remained. So for us it's always been not just our club, but our local club, and in the old days you used to be able to go down to the club and bump into players for a chat, see them at Harold Park for the trots etc.

Not quite like that now, but that old Balmain tiger logo still gets me pumped.

 

[Tim Sheens]

Indoctrination from birth onwards for my boy. Having moved north, we don't get to as many matches nowadays, so our seats are often left empty, but the good time slot of the two o'clock kickoff at Leichhardt next round is looking good.

The increasing number of late afternoon and night matches are not conducive to taking a family, particularly younger children to matches.

 

[ed612313]

No….
We have just moved to Newcastle and id be more than happy if my kid supported Newcastle. The Wests Tigers are not the team i grew up supporting (Balmain) and watching the way they operate is embarrassing...
The merge killed any chance of me pushing the Tigers on to my kids

 

[innsaneink]

My son started playing before watching NRL… We lived at Maroubra and it was when souths were readmitted.
He got all the hype around it
Maroubra Lions wear the Souths strip... His school colours were red and green too...
He's staunch tho... Sat thru many many floggings in tears

 

[Icon]

when my boy was 5 or 6 he said something like "I like those chickens", I said right, we're of to the shops, bought him all the tigers gear and that unfortunately set him on course to seeing a lot of loses over the years. He's in his 20's now and is a mad tigers supporter, we still go to the matches so it's good to catch every week during the NRL season .

My daughter came to the matches with us but used sit and read her books, but is also a mad tigers fan now.

So, all ended well, except the losing of course, but we did have '05 when they were 11 and 9, that was a great 12 weeks.

 

[swag_tiger]

I'm only 18 so i ain't thinking about family right now but my girlfriend is a Roosters supporter which means it will have to be a battle to get to decide who the kids would support ( if we plan on having any in the future). :roll

 

[Harvey]

I'm only 18 so i ain't thinking about family right now but my girlfriend is a Roosters supporter which means it will have to be a battle to get to decide who the kids would support ( if we plan on having any in the future). :roll

Make sure any brown paper bags she gives your kids contain school lunches and nothing else

 

[Spacecub]

_So…... moving away from the current doom and gloom..._
I'd love to know other fans thoughts on whether or not you insist on making your kids Tigers fans (i.e. over other teams).

Personally, I accept that at some point my kids may struggle with religion, sexuality, political agenda, whatever...but I'm dead serious that they **have** to support all of my teams without question.

Thoughts?

No i have zero tolerance for child abuse

 

[swag_tiger]

I'm only 18 so i ain't thinking about family right now but my girlfriend is a Roosters supporter which means it will have to be a battle to get to decide who the kids would support ( if we plan on having any in the future). :roll

Make sure any brown paper bags she gives your kids contain school lunches and nothing else

i'd have to catch her doing it first. :roll

 

[Juro]

It would be a bit rich for me to force it on my kids, seeing as how I changed teams from Parra to Balmain at the age of 13…

My son showed absolutely no interest in any sport until the age of 4, when he became absolutely obsessed.

The first game I took him to was against the Dragons on a wet night at the SFS. We were trailing for most of the game but came back to win in the second half. I remember Benji setting up a try with a flick pass, right near where we were sitting.

I remember being at a game vs Canterbury where we got absolutely flogged (40-4 in 2013 is most likely the one). He was the only kid in the area of the stadium we were sitting, and he so desperately wanted to wave his flag but there was to be no cheering that night. There was a group of guys in their 50s sitting behind us, and they were very supportive towards him, encouraging him that good times will eventually come.

Another memorable game for him was against Brisbane at Campbo. It was his birthday and he got to go out on the field to cheer the team on at the start. That was a real buzz for him. Unfortunately, of course, we got beat in a nail-biter.

Occasionally he talks about his friends who change teams, going for the latest one that is playing well that year. I tell him that chasing victories like that is hollow and can't really be appreciated like when (or is it if) we have a good year. So he keeps waiting patiently, waiting for his first taste of finals football...

 

[innsaneink]

Good stuff Juro

 

[Juro]

My daughter, on the other hand, is a harder nut to crack. She is now 7 and has been going to games for most of her life. While she loves to go, she shows almost no interest in what is going on on the field. She loves the face paint and cheer girls, but has very little understanding of the game. She sits there and draws or plays on the phone or finds some other kid to play with. Every now and then she surprises me by knowing one of the players. It helps if they have hair like Woods.

As for being a tigers fan, I almost lost her at her very first game. We were playing a home game against Souths at the SFS. For some reason, the Souths mascot was there and she loved him straight away. She decided she was a rabbits fan (VOMIT!!!). It was only at a Souths game the following year where I pointed out that they didn't have cheer girls (her favourite thing) that turned her back from the dark side. Oh, and the fact that she was born in the year of the tiger helped a bit too.

Some day she may surprise me by watching a full game with me.

 

[Tigerdon]

Even though both my kids have been born and breed in Manly they are both Tigers fans. I remember telling them you can go for Manly if you like. They both said no, we are Tigers like you.
They were born in 2001 and 2003\. So both were very young but still got the experience the GF win. There has been so many great personalities at the Tigers over the years. That was more important for them than wins.

 

[Byron_Bay_Fan]

My 28 yo son recently visited for a few days. He was brought up on classical music and chess - becoming champs at both. I could not get him to watch footie for one second.

Then a few days ago surprisingly he watched all the Tigers game with me getting thrashed - I had to apologise and promised him that Farah is coming back soon and will be worth watching. At least I had the chance to explain the rules to him so he could appreciate more. That it is really just like a physical game of chess and the coaches and dummy halves are the smarties.

 

[swag_tiger]

My dad was a Magpies supporter since he was 14\. He took me to the Wests Tigers vs cowboys game in 2005 as my first game. I remember i almost cryed after the 2011 finals loss to the Roosters. We are both loyal to the Tigers and have stayed with them though thick and thin.

 

[Demps]

My son is a poster on this forum.
Guess who.

 

[hobbo]

My son is a poster on this forum.
Guess who.

How old were you when you farthered this child ?

 

[beachtiger]

I definitely agree with brainwashing kids to support my team but it doesn't always work.

My son is 7 and has always been a Tigers supporter however my 9 year old daughter whilst I was going through said "brainwashing" stage loved puppy dogs so she decided that she wanted to go for the Bulldogs much to my disgust.

I proceeded to tell her that only people who go for the Tigers can live in our house to which she replied with quite a few tears, as you can imagine she is now a staunch Bulldogs supporter!!

#dadoftheyear..not

 

[Byron_Bay_Fan]

I definitely agree with brainwashing kids to support my team but it doesn't always work.

My son is 7 and has always been a Tigers supporter however my 9 year old daughter whilst I was going through said "brainwashing" stage loved puppy dogs so she decided that she wanted to go for the Bulldogs much to my disgust.

I proceeded to tell her that only people who go for the Tigers can live in our house to which she replied with quite a few tears, as you can imagine she is now a staunch Bulldogs supporter!!

#dadoftheyear..not

If you would have warned her with the flames of hell she would have complied quick smart.